THE FREMONTS PERFORM IN TAJIKISTAN

FROM A TEAHOUSE IN BOULDER TO A FORTRESS IN DUSHANBE The Fremonts perform for their sister city

Great Barrington couple takes their cabaret act to Tajikistan as part of U.S. Embassy tour

BY JESSICA GAMARI

The invitation came in the form of an email last fall.

“Darren from Dushanbe would like to formally invite The Fremonts to visit Tajikistan.”

Their reaction?

“We laughed!” Stephaine Dodd, vocalist and accordionist of The Fremonts, said. “We thought it was a scam.”

But then, she and her husband Justin Badger, guitarist, vocalist and the other half of The Fremonts, Googled Darren from Dushanbe. Turns out, the invitation was legitimate and Darren, a real person, works as a foreign state officer for the U.S. State Department in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

According to their website, The Fremonts, a cabaret-Americana duo, create “unique theatrical experiences for their audiences by blending Americana music and storytelling with a cabaret aesthetic … [They] present their original music with performance skills honed from years of working as professional actors” in New York City.

Dodd says she first picked up the accordion “on a whim” while on a trip in New Orleans many years ago. The duo describes their sound as a jazz-inspired cabaret, with lyrics inspired by their personal lives, old family stories and even ghost stories.

Stephanie Dodd and Justin Badger, aka The Fremonts, pose for a picture during a video shoot near Nurek Reservoir in Tajikistan.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FREMONTS

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FREMONTS

The Fremonts stand before the Parchan Marble Column in Dusti Square, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The band was chosen to represent Boulder, Colo., for a celebration of 30-plus years of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Tajikistan. Boulder and Dushanbe have been sister-cities since 1987. The band was invited to perform music and film a music video in several locations across Tajikistan, which shares borders with China on the east, Afghanistan on the south, and Uzbekistan on the west and northwest.

Although Dodd and Badger reside in Great Barrington, they previously lived in Boulder for 6 years, which is where they say they had the chance to really develop and grow their band in earnest. The two still work remotely for their day jobs in Boulder, and take the opportunity to perform wherever they can. Badger works for an advertising company and Dodd works in executive coaching.

Before this trip, Dodd and Badger did have some experience with Tajik culture. They frequently visited the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, a building which was a gift to the city from Dushanbe. Badger says the restaurant was a way to experience Tajik culture through festivals and traditional food.

“It’s a very cool connection to the cities,” he said. “It’s a really gorgeous, serene, premiere restaurant.”

Described by The Calvert Journal, the building has “large blue windows surrounded by eight colorful ceramic panels, two on each side, depicting a Tree of Life in a semicircular niche in a mosque wall indicating the direction of Mecca. In the summer months, visitors sit in the garden, surrounded by roses.”

Looking back on their tour, Badger says they feel “gobsmacked we got to take the trip.”

The Fremonts spoke to Berkshire Landscapes soon after returning from their tour. After a slight postponement from January due to a spike in COVID, they departed for Tajikistan on March 22 for a two-week tour.

During the tour, they performed at American Spaces in Kulob, Vahdat, Bokhtar and Dushanbe, as well as a public music venue called HELEN Restaurant in Dushanbe with The Melody Rangers, a Tajik band.

“It was amazing. The schedule was very busy,” Dodd said, noting that they had performances once a day. They met with the press for interviews and also had a chance to speak with students during Q&As and take selfies.

“The teenagers were so excited to talk about American culture and who we are,” Dodd said. Many of the questions were very engaging and thoughtful, asking questions such as their 

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“We were really excited about the depth of conversation with the students,” she said. “We were able to perform for mostly Afghan and Baghdad communities, and feel their love for our music, and talk about their lives. … They’re really wonderful and warm kids.”

Badger enjoyed seeing the student’s response to their music. The Fremonts took the time to learn a song in Tajik, which is the variety of Persian spoken in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

“They were so excited we took the time to learn and perform a song,” he said.

One of the most incredible moments on the trip happened on their first day. After a long day of traveling, the pair, although jetlagged, had plans to attend a party where they were to mingle with Tajik celebrities, influencers and members of the press, followed by a performance.

“We were pretty deeply jetlagged, but I put on my red lipstick, got hydrated and got some caffeine,” Dodd said. During the performance, they played the song, “Chaki Chaki Boroni Bakhor” which is popular in Tajikistan.

“It starts out with just Justin alone with his guitar, and I think, ‘Huh, that sounds different than usual.’ I couldn’t figure out what was going on. He was playing in a different key, no idea what key that was. It was a disaster; it was this out-of-body experience. I paused for a moment, and from the audience comes this giant, beautiful voice. A woman stands up and sings the rest of the song with us. The audience loved it. We had no idea who she was [at the time].”

It turns out, that woman was Takhmina Ramazanova, the lead singer of Avesto, one of the most famous bands in central Asia.

After the performance, Ramazanova, who doesn’t speak much English, invited The Fremonts to an informal jam session and party at the studio of Avesto.

“She says to me, ‘We are sisters, you come to my house.’ We ended up at their music studio for an unbelievable party,” Dodd said. “There was a huge spread of food and a professional band that played an entire set just for us. It was just a riot … so much fun. There were not a lot of people who could speak English, so there was a little awkwardness, but we all just

fell in love.”

As well as performing music, The Fremonts also filmed a music video for one of their original songs, “Kids Who Always Swam,” which is a song Badger says is literally about parents in the ‘80s teaching their kids to swim by throwing them in the deep end of a pool.

“It’s much more about diving into any experience that comes your way and figuring it out,” he said.

The Fremonts spent two days filming with a Tajik team at a 400-year-old fortress in Hissor and then near a lake in Nurek, which is known for its turquoise water.

“That color of turquoise, I’ve never seen a color like that before,” Badger said.

On the first day, they went to a vintage clothing store to pick out traditional Tajik clothing.

“We went there and we shot for 3 hours,” Badger said. “It was remarkable, walking down main street in our traditional dress with a film crew in front of us and a drone taking footage. We’re walking down the road singing to ourselves.”

Overall, Dodd and Badger said they are beyond grateful to Darren and their host families who took care of them by translating and reconfiguring travel plan logistics and for sharing their knowledge of their country and history throughout their journey.

“It really filled our hearts to the brim to go on this trip and meet people and communicate,” Dodd said. “We feel really lucky for that.”

This summer, The Fremonts have plans to perform at the Berkshire Busk in Great Barrington in July. They are also working with their producer Chuck Porter to prepare for their upcoming show in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where they will perform, “The Failure Cabaret,” a show that is part comedy and part confessional about their “failures” in their lives thus far. They’re scheduled to perform 25 shows in 26 days.

“It’s unlike anything we’ve done as a band before,” Badger said. ■

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE FREMONTS

The Fremonts jam with Avesto, one of the leading ethno-jazz bands in Tajikistan, during their tour of the country. Soloist Tahmina Ramazanova, center, is known for her unique voice and improvisations.

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